Chair



Sept. 14, 1943. .e; w. YOUNG CHAIR Filed Sept. 29, 1942 2 Sheets-sheaf. 2

INVENTOR 2 o 'George ou)? ATTORNEYS Patented Sept, 14, 1943 R. "H. Macy & Co. Inc'.,'New, York, N.

porationiof New York 7 y 4 29,1942, S-erialNo. 460,6 1-

IaApplication September scams, (c1. 155 179), This invention relates to furniture such 'as' chairs, divans and sofas and has for its object the provision of an improved spring construction for both seat and back.

It has been the general-practice to use steel coil springs in the seat platform and back of upholstered furniture to give the yielding support required' for comfort. springs perform their function admirably they must be securely tied in place at the cost of much tedious labor, which adds to the cost of' y the furnitureand so is objectionable Hence a substitute wouldfbe desirable for-reasons of economy. There is, howeverja more compelling reason for developing a; substitute for the steel spring: there is-or soon will be-no more steel availabletfor upholstery springs. Steel springs have gone to' war. I 3

Thi being'the situation facing upholsterers, I have invented a satisfactory substitute for the steel springs used in upholstered furniture. Y I have devised a spring construction 'in',which wood can be, and is, used-as the resilient element, 'Myconstruction issuch that were steel available it could be used,'but the great present virtue of my invention is that it enables me to produce a quite satisfactory andcomfortable may be in theform of laminated veneer strips glued together. In either case the strips are bent to conform to the-desired curvature and aretoughand resilient -;,T he- ,-forward .end of each strip 4 is fixedtothe inner side of the front rail "of the chair at 5 and the rear ends are attached to a transverse bar 6 whichacts as the Although such back rail 0f the platform 2- and which isQnot otherwise attached to the chair frame. sA web bingl of duckrburlap or other suitable material which constitutes the; base of the platform is attached to this back rail 6 and to the front rail piece of upholstered furniture without an ounce of sprin Steel in thewhole'of it. f r

, The best way to explain'what I have done is to describe the chair embodying my invention that is illustrated in the drawings accompanying this application,

In these drawings Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through an upholsteredchair embodying myinvention; Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken alongline "2-4 of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a detail on an enlarged scaleshowing one method of securing the forward 'end of one of the seat springs to the frame'of the chair; Figure 4 illustrates an alternative method of fixing the forwardend of the seatspring; Figure 5 is a horizontalsection taken along line 5-5 of Figure 1; Figurefi is 'a detail showing one method of holding the back springs inposition; and Figure '7 is a view similar jto Figure 1 showinga modified form of seat spring construction.

The chair illustratedlin these drawings com prises the usual framefl' which supports' a seat platform 2 and a back 3. I shall flrst'describe the seat platform construction of my invention and then describe the-construction of the back. My spring elements comprise two strips of wood 4 bowed as illustrated in Figure 1. Thesestrips may be made either of solid wood or they at 8. The webbing I is drawn taut and, being inextensibla tends to hold the wood strips4 in the bent positionshown in Figure 1. A crossbar 9 having a downwardly and rearwardly sloping face, as shown in Figure 1, is mounted transversely of theframe and supports the strips 4 at its forward and upper end, The upper face of the cross-bar 9 is, in efiect,,tangent' to the curvature ofthe strips. The webbing 1 is pro vided with the'usual covering comprising awebf of burlap I0 stretched and tackedvto the four rails. of the chair frame and over this is added the usual thin layer of stuffing H which, in turn, iscovered by a fabric. 12. 1 y

As shown in Figures 1 and 3, the innerface of the front rail on the chair:frame is provided with. two downwardly and backwardly sloping slots I3 of proper size to receive-the forward ends Y of the strips 4.' In order to makega snug fit and to eliminate creaking, the forward end of each slot isprovided with a lining of-felt 14. A dowel pin I5 extends through "each' strip at right angles to itandinto the forward rail. Amodified construction is shown in Figure 4. Here a separate railportion I6 is. screwed to the frame and the strip is screwed to it. As illlustrated in Figure 1 the rear ends of the strips 4-lie upon shoulders I! in the floating'back rail 6, which is'cevered with a layer'of felt 18. The upper face 'ofthe cross-bar 9 is also covered with felt [9 under the strips'4. :It'is possible to eliminate those parts of thestrips forward of the cross-barand secure the forwardends of the shortened strips at the upper edge of the cross-bar itself. Sup

- ported upon the seat platform 2 is a stuffed cushion 20 which may bemade of sponge. rubber or any other suitable soft ahdresilient material. I Y

The 'weight of a person sitting in the'chair just describedjisconcentrated somewhat. to the rear of the center of the platforinp .The application v of this weight deforms the platform and its supporting springs, as follows: The webbing 'L which carries the weight, is bowed downwardly and deflected out of its normal straight line position between the front rail and the floating back rail. This results in pulling the rear ends of the wood strips 4 and therail 6 forwardly. At the same time the strips 4 are swung downwardly from the fulcrum point at the upper forward edge of the cross-barfi, and: this results in a loweringof the back rail. A the strips 4" are bent downwardly, they are flattened along the declining face of the cross-bar 9, the point of Contact moving down the face of the bar, short ening the effective length of each wooden spring and increasing its bending resistance until equii librium is reached (provided. the weight ofthe person does not exceed the strengthof the strips 4 to support it). The downward bowing or bellying of the webbing 1 provides a form-fitting support for the person and the progression of volved are equally applicable to divans, sofas,

the point of tangency, along the cross-bar 9, automatically f'stiifens' the spring resistance of the strips'4 to compensate forincreasing weights; Thusjfor'a light person the 'effective length' of the strips 4 is" greater than for a person; The strips 4 are sufficiently stiff to prevent bottoming or the platform fweb-under any weight that the, chair is capable of supporting}; so that a: resilientand springy support is provided' at all times. 'When -p ffissure' on the-platform relieved; the strips 4 spring back-to their-origi'nal-positions, holding the webbing Tftaut and free from sag.

,The 'back of'theg chair comprises ase'ries of vertical wooden strips 21 similar to the-strips k Y but .narrower in width; Thesebtrips"are firmly anchored at the'ir'lower' ends toacross-bar 22 and extend. upwardly, first curving outwardly andthen curving inwardly alonga 'smoothcurve; The upper ends of'the strips 21 -1ie'agai'nst'a pad 13 but arenotfast'enedftoit. They are held in place by means of two'pieces-of burlap fl sewed together toformcha'nnel pockets 25' for receiving them, the weld Z4 being tackedto the sides of the back framei Interlacing'strips; ofiipurlap, duck or similar material 'might al'so'= be used. '-A.*strip of some fabric 28 -overlies-the strips z i', fastened at 'its lower end to V the cross-ban 22 and at its upperend to the back frame at'ZJT just intrear of the pad 23. The fabricrli -iss'oshaped ati'its upper end as to afford room for vertical play of the strips 21 "Phe back is coveredwith any suit ableQsoft-stufllng 2-$ held within an outer fabric cover 29 and brought" around the top of the frame in the 'c'onve ntionalmanner;

" When a-per son-l'sitti'ng in the-chair leans against theback, the strips 2|afiordiayielding support; The pressure against "the strips 21 tends to flatten them, which causes" the over-all length between the-ends-of the strips to increase, resulting ina sliding movement: "ofiithe up er ends along the pad By anchoring the' strips It at their lower ends while leaving. themfree, at their tops, and: supported'agairist a yielding? pad, a firm support for? tYlELbHLCK isafiordedin the vicinity'of thefkidneys without-sacrificing: a comfort'ableresiliency where ;.isneeded; yAs .the strips are independentlymounted, each may flex separately,;and thus thefback' camadapt itself to theform'offthe "sitter; 'j.' "1- In the modified'form shown in Figure 7, :15116} front rail is; provided-with a floating, section 30 supported; by short wooden springstrips 31- ,an -v clioredltothe cross-bar}. As the strips 3I- carry a much lighter load than the strips 4, they need be only half the width of the latter. The webbing l is secured at the front to a fixed front rail and at the back to the floating back rail. As

5 it lies below the floating front rail, the strips 3| pass upwardly between sections of the webbing. Except for the fact that some resiliency is afforded; at thetfront railrby this construction, the

. operation, is precisely the same as that of the 10 structure shown in Figure 1. A single strip 4 may be employed extending from the front to the back rail, but it is preferable to employ separate strips.

I have illustrated two spring strips in the seat 510ithechair because I have found that number f s'atisfac'toryh This number can, of course, be

changed. I have illustrated my invention em-' bodied infan upholstered chair and have so doscribed; it, but it is clear that the principles inbenches, day'enports: and other seats, whether upholstered: or not and: the a word chair, asnscd in: the claims, is: intended; to include, all such functionally equivalent furniture; r 3:; 25 ."ljcla'imzd v- 5 a chaircomprisingfa framega front rail, a floating backrail, flexible,;inextensible webbing connecting. the; two ygriownwardly bowed strip spring securedatr, forward emit the f m railand at'its rearwardend t-o thebacl: rail, and a. cross-bar carried; byjthe frame between and below the twa rails and; supporting. the spring tangentially. e v .4 v. ,=2;A'ehair;comprisinga frame, afrontrail, a floating baekiraili flexible; inextensible webbing connectinguthe'; two, a downwardly bowed strip ofresilient: wood secured atits forward end to the front rail and at its reaarwardend tothe back rail, andra dQWHWQTdlXi-fiI-ldf rearwardly sloping cross-bar j carried; theframe bet iveen and below thetwo ltails and supporting the wooden strip a s e ys V Y s. a

A chair c mprising e-a frame 2,; a frontrai-l, a tmash c s w lt flexible; pex ens l webbing onneqt ns the t niea de nw dly 'q tr p of resilient wood secu1:ed;a.t, its; forward; end to theiront rail and atitsre arwardaencl to theta-cl: a and: d wn a d r an .ree we a r cross-bar carried gby the,--f-r.ameg forward its middle between and-belowthe twa rails and S pporting, the wooden) strip tangentially near its upper --edgewhen; the; "chair; is unoccupied; and over a progressively wider area of'sits upper surface as the-loadycarried by the chaiivis increased. i -A chair'comprising -a frame a frontrail; a floating-back rail a platformv supported by the two: rails; adownwardlybowed; strip spring secured at its; forward endto the front rail and at its rearwardend to the back rail, and a crossbarucar riedby; the fame between and below the two rails and supportingthe spring tangentially. 5. A chair-comprisingv aaframe; a-front raiha floating back-rail, a platform supported by the two rails, a. downwardly bowed strip ofresilient wood; secured at; its forward end to-the front rail and at 'its rearward end t the back rail, and a cross-bar gcarried bythe frameforward of its middlebetween and-below the twqraflsandsup- P t the. o den in =i s n ie n rforward, edge when the-chair is unoccupied, and over a pr -ogressively wideigarea of its'upper surfaceas the load; carriedbythe chair is increased. v GEQRQEY sW, YOUNG. 

